Many pet owners who have more than one pet, such as dogs, enjoy walking two pets simultaneously. However, by using two conventional single-pet leashes separately, one for each pet, several problems are often encountered. A first problem with separate leashes is that they tend to get tangled with each other when, for example, the pets play with each other or their owner or when they cross back and forth across each other's paths when being walked.
Another problem with walking two pets on separate leashes is that when the pets try to go in different directions, they are often difficult to control. This is because, first, two pets have a relatively large area in which to roam when each is attached to a separate leash, which leads to control difficulties in close quarters. Second, two pets pulling in different directions on two leashes can often overcome the strength of the owner, at least tiring the owner quickly, or in some cases even injuring the owner.
Previous attempts to address the above problems have resulted in the invention of several leashes that are designed to restrain two or more pets. U.S. Pat. No. Design 244,869 to Manley et al. shows a Y-shaped animal leash having two leads to which pets may be attached. U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,972 to Crowe et al. discloses a double pet walker that includes three flexible straps. Each strap has a hand loop on one end and a swivel snap fastener on the other end. The straps are assembled so as to provide a double pet walker by attaching the swivel snap fastener of one strap to the two hand loops of the remaining straps. This results in a generally Y-shaped pet walker with a hand loop on one end and two swivel snap fasteners on the other two ends, which act as leads for attachment to two pets. Alternately, the Crowe device can be used as two or three separate leashes; however, for use as two separate leashes, the resulting leashes are either both relatively short or are of unequal length. U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,063 to Garrigan discloses a leash for two or more animals that includes one or more leads having snap fasteners on opposite ends. The leads are held together in the middle by a sleeve-type handle.
While all of these leashes solve the problem of allowing more than one pet to be walked at a time, they still leave room for improvement in other respects. The Manley and Garrigan devices appear to be as easily tangled as separate leashes, if not more so. By including a swivel snap fastener at the "Y" joinder among the three straps, the Crowe device helps alleviate the tangling problems that come with using two separate leashes. However, none of these multi-pet leashes solve the problems with controlling pets that each want to roam in opposite directions as far as their individual leads will allow, because none of these devices allow adjustment of the leads' lengths as the pets are being walked. Likewise, there is no provision for pets of unequal size or energy, where a stronger or more active pet needs more room to run than a smaller or more docile pet.
Thus, there remains a need for a new and improved two-pet leash that permits two pets to be walked simultaneously without tangling of the leash, while at the same time being automatically and continuously adjustable to allow for differences in activity between the two pets connected to the leash.